In Stones' writing humor perfectly gets along with moral lessons, carefully woven into the story, unexpected plot twists, and profound character development. Stones' projects had a solid storyline, greatly enhanced by all advantages of animation: exaggerated mimics, bright colors, and hilarious moments that could only be ever possible in animation.


Stones was one of the first to understand how to successfully blend technological possibilities with creativity. The Gummy Bears became the animator's first famous work after he worked on the third season.

"The Gummy Bears" were an accident: Michael Eisner, the CEO of Disney, once said that his kid loved gummy bears. And two years later I found myself an editor and producer of a cartoon series with the same name.

Chip 'n Dale was the first show the idea of which Tad created himself, but it wasn't endorsed right of the bat. The story about detective partners, an inventor who doesn't see nor her beauty, nor her genius, an adorable chubby guy, and a fly - such concept was completely new for Disney. The studio took a considerable risk, but it ended up not only being completely justified, but also ending in a great triumph.

When I offered the Rescue Rangers prototype to the company there was just a team of animals - there were Gadget, a chameleon, and Monty, but the latter was called something else at the time. The main character was Kit Colby, an Indiana Jones looking mouse who wore a fluffy collared leather jacket. I was told that the idea was great, but the main character - not so much. Later I came up with Chip and Dale, and Eisner said to make the show with them.

Lots of things had to be changed in the process of writing the story and making the cartoon itself because now there were two main heroes instead of one - a bright and dynamic duo. The mouse was suddenly replaced by chipmunks; Chip was the leader of the Rescue Rangers, also dressed like Indiana Jones, and Dale just loved to fool around and wore a Hawaiian shirt like the detective Magnum. Together with the Duck Tales, this series started the Disney day time show segment - "Disney Afternoon".

Then came the age of the Darkwing Duck. At that time everyone was making their version of James Bond and action movies about spies, so Tad Stones suggested using some characters, previously created for the Duck Tales' second season, for this very idea. Launchpad McQuack was supposed to be the main character, but the first version lacked the family atmosphere. It was just a parody, not connected to the Duck Tales world in any way. So Tad started looking for inspiration in the Silver Age of DC - the Green Hornet, the Shadow, the Dark Knight of Frank Miller.


Tad wanted to keep all the superhero traditions in the series: to have a tagline said in every episode, to have a story of character's formation, a meeting with an evil clone was definitely a must, but he also wanted to keep the show cheerful and fun. Launchpad remained in the series, but this time a sidekick of the main hero - the Darkwing Duck.

So we thought: what would happen if Batman had to raise a little girl? That's how all the pieces of this story came together. This detail gave the needed dynamic to the show, the feeling we wanted it to have. Gosalyn's image was heavily inspired by my own daughter who was two years old at the time; she was so restless! George Lucas once said that Duck Tales were our Star Wars. But, of course, no one ever told us that. Working on the series was fun because it was completely original. I could imagine whatever characters I wanted to and I could purposely use all the Silver ages comic book cliches - not because we didn't have any ideas, but because that was the whole point of the show. I would say - make the show fun and don't worry about the universe integrity. That's why Darkwing Duck confuses many people: they want continuity, and I was strictly against it.

You could say that it was Tad who started the Disney sequel machine all the way back in the 90s, releasing a surprisingly successful film Aladdin: The Return of Jafar. That release also gave way to the new cartoon series about Aladdin, which received a warm welcome from the public. It further developed the character's personalities, continued their personal story arcs, focused on such moments that would be hopelessly lost in a full-meter movie.

Genie is awesome, and he's a little insane. He was voiced by Robin Williams and brought a taste of the crazy Warner Bros. in this Disney show. But very few people realize that Aladdin was a good movie before Genie appeared.

Tad Stones will bring unique cards with the characters of Darkwing Duck and Chip 'n Dale, drawn and colored by hand, to Comic Con Russia 2019. He also created large illustrations, each existing only in a single copy, and he will also draw monochrome pencil portraits of the characters for the fans and guests of the festival.

Tad is an enormously important figure, and the most frequent compliment he hears is "thank you for creating my childhood". I wasn't an exception back when I met him at San Diego, it was an incredible experience for me. Later, at the dinner, when I was talking to Tad about Darkwing Duck, I realized what was the matter. For the American audience that cartoon was just a clever and funny parody on superheroes everyone knew and loved. But we had no superheroes at the time. Darkwing Duck became the FIRST statement on superheroes, on colorful and charismatic villains, on gadgets and heroic feats. He was our first because for a Russian viewer there was no background. And then Tad came with his ideas, the embodiment of a clever combination of parody and originality, genius humor, and bright characters. How could we not fall in love?

An idea to bring him to Russia was brewing for a long time, we had generations of viewers raised on his work, after all, and there was no doubt he would be popular. So I wrote to him on behalf of BUBBLE and invited him to Comic Con Russia, where he will be our guest of honor on the Author's Alley.


Tad is very friendly, he likes to talk, so be ready for a warm chat, although you will have to waste some time in the line for that. Every author wants their fan to remember meeting them, for Tad the autograph session isn't just some assembly line, but an actually fantastic experience. I think both him and his characters' fans will have a great time at the festival.

We brought a unique Darkwing Duck edition from San Francisco, drawn by Tad himself, and we will give you a chance to win it in our official VK group very soon.